The East and West CWLand sides have finalised their four-man squads for the Davis Cup World Group Play-off match starting in Stedingham this Friday. There were no surprises as both sides cut down their squads from five for the tie that will take place on the indoor clay surface.

The West boasts season I French Open finalist Sven Oxenstierna and quarter finalist Jojo Mustard in their singles legs, whilst the East have unsurprisingly gone with Jefferson Drake and Randy Smeltz to contest the legs. There was some speculation that alternate Jarkko Maxum might compete in the doubles for the East, but they disappeared as he was excluded from the final four in favour of Jamee Hancianu. Unless any dead rubbers are to be played, Hancianu is not expected to compete as the Australian Open doubles final will be replayed over five sets between Heath Davis & Jojo Mustard and Jefferson Drake & Martti Korpinen. From the locals, Scotland Rivers fills the same role as Hancianu as the fourth player not listed to play.

Interesting. I thought Davis might get the nod in the singles, as he probably has a better overall record in the singles, but am pleased to have the doubles responsibility placed on Mustard's shoulders.

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Go the West! Let's beat these Ossies.

>>>>>>WHHOOOOOOOOOSHHHHHHH>>>>>>Fascist Dictator of the Heath Davis Appreciation SocietySupporting Petone's Finest since the very start - Iain O'Brien
Also Supporting the All Time #1 Batsman of All Time Ever - Jacques Kallis and the much maligned Peter Siddle.

WORLD No. 10 Jefferson Drake has showed why he is potentially the best five-set player in the world as he picked up a dramatic win over Jojo Mustard in the opening leg of the Davis Cup play-off round in Stedingham. On paper it was an interesting match with Mustard, in front of a home crowd, a French Open quarter finalist despite his recent poor form. In a tense start, both players traded breaks before settling into a serving rhythm on the red clay in a brutal baseline war. But the aggressive Drake managed to earn a decisive break of service after fighting off three break points in the previous game at 6-5 to capture the set 7-5.

The second set, though, was completely different as Mustard lifted his game and shaked off criticisms that he is too much of a pusher in singles tennis. Breaking twice, he closed out the set 6-2 and set about trying to take a lead in the third set. That didn't happen, though, and Drake suddenly leapt from a break down at 0-1 to 4-1 before Mustard could even begin to press his newfound advantage. A third serivce break of the set gave him a two sets to one lead and put him on the verge of a fourth Davis Cup singles win.

But the momentum swung again, and a double fault at 1-1 saw Drake drop service for the first time in over a set and a nervous Mustard hung on to his own serve to lead 3-1. Drake threw everything he could at Mustard until 2-4, before a sense of inevitability came over him and he conserved energy for a fifth and final set. It was not a bad move either, as Drake already had the advantage of being unbelievably experienced in matches that go the distance with a fantastic record of 7-1. Mustard was not, however, going to be the one to make it 7-2 as Drake produced a gutsy display to break once and then again at match point to give the East CWLand team an early 1-0 lead.

This afternoon, World No. 5 Sven Oxenstierna looks to hit back for the West as he takes on World No. 16 Randy Smeltz.

EAST CWLAND'S Randy Smeltz has left West CWLand a huge task to qualify for the World Group after pulling off a real upset against world No. 5 Sven Oxenstierna in Stedingham. After Jefferson Drake earlier gave DR CWLand a leg up on the locals with a five-set win over Jojo Mustard, the pressure was on the French Open finalist to keep FR CWLand in the tie at the end of day one. As expected, it was a cagey start from both players who seemed content to patrol the baseline and attempt to draw an error from the other player. They rarely did, though, and were unbelievably consistent on service as the set petered out to a tiebreaker. Smeltz, notorious for underperforming against top players, managed to keep with the higher ranked player and made his move in the breaker as he took points off the first three points of Oxenstierna's service. That blew the breaker wide open, and he capitalised to secure it 7-2.

Down a set, Oxenstierna needed something to go his way and got it early in the second as a forehand at break point clipped the neck and dropped about a foot after the net and well beyond Smeltz's reach. That break was enough to secure the second set as the two men continued to give nothing up on serve. Nevertheless, Smeltz continued to plug away from the baseline as was rewarded with his first break of service in the sixth game of the third set to take a 4-2 lead. He experienced some wobbles at 15-40 in the very next game, but did enough to ultimately move ahead two sets to one.

Oxenstierna was under some real pressure knowing a win would make it very hard for his team to move into the World Group proper. Serving first, he managed to just hold onto serve on his first attempt and then break Smeltz first up to lead 2-0. But just as it looked like this was also heading to five, Smeltz broke back from 2-4 down and consolodated to level it at 4-4. It was a massive blown opportunity from Oxenstierna, and with sweat on his brow he was broken again to take the Easterners a game away from a 2-0 lead. Smeltz needed just five points to secure the match for the East and a 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 boilover.

Down 0-2, the West now need to win the final three rubbers to win the tie that continues with an Australian Open doubles final replay tomorrow.